The Executive Committee of the CP meeting this weekend [16/17 January] has issued the following statement on elections.

The Communist Party reiterates its view that a Labour victory would be preferable to a Tory victory. This means recommending a vote for Labour in the majority of constituencies, especially where the Labour candidate has a record of opposing imperialist war and privatisation, and supporting trade union and other democratic rights. We urge especially support and campaigning for those Labour prospective parliamentary candidates who have clearly identified themselves with progressive politics.

However, we welcome principled contests against those New Labour figures who have distinguished themselves as the worst advocates of privatization, war and neo-liberalism.

We confirm our willingness to explore the potential for achieving as much unity as possible on the left and in the labour movement in wider campaigning against neo-liberal policies.

Noting that the RMT executive has decided not to affiliate formally to any electoral coalition for the forthcoming general election, and that no other union has taken a formal position, the Executive Committee of the Communist Party of Britain, in reviewing its own electoral strategy, has determined not to participate in a formal electoral coalition.

The Communist Party, and its allies in UK-domiciled Communist and Workers’ Parties, perhaps with other forces, will contest as many constituencies as feasible in the general election, in order to project a clear left-wing alternative.

The Communist Party will continue to pursue its agreed wider objectives in terms of electoral and campaigning work, which include negotiations to prevent left candidates standing against each other wherever possible, and support for candidates who have gained a personal and significant local potential electoral following.

Additionally, the Communist Party seeks to work with a wide range of left and labour movement forces, inside and outside the Labour Party, to promote mass activity in defence of working people and for wider support for policies towards a left-wing policy programme.

Literary works cannot be taken over like factories, or literary forms of expression like industrial methods. Realist writing, of which history offers many widely varying examples, is likewise conditioned by the question of how, when and for what class it is made use of.

Bertholt Brecht
Playwright and Poet (1898-1956)

Capitalism increasingly produces ‘culture’ as it does other commodities regardless of social need or the social good. 'Popular culture’ is thereby turned into a commercial, conservative force that promotes ideas of selfishness, greed and individualism. Read More